Novellas
by theorbess540
Summary: Because ideas come easy, while full-length stories do not. Because plot bunnies bite and don't let go. Because fingers itch while schemes and scenarios cry to be written down. Because motivation hits fast and leaves as quickly. Because inspiration is as random as a little three year old. Because why not?
1. Chapter 1

_**Whisper**_

(For this story alone, _italicizing is whispering_ , and **bold is Cybertronian.** )

" _Pssst_!"

Jack stiffened. Confused, he looked up from gnawing on his clump of clay-food in search of the quiet disturbance. He gazed at the blurry doorway, where Cybertronian tongue loudly clicked from within. He was pretty sure that there was only two mechs. At least, he'd heard only two voices. The human frowned. He'd only heard the Cybertronian language in the three weeks he'd been on Cybertron, but that new sound he heard was distinctly _not_. He was pretty sure that Cybertronian couldn't hiss like that. If Jack didn't know any better, it almost sounded like _human_.

" _Pssssst_!"

He jumped up and pressed himself against a wall of his temporary prison. Well, a prison to Jack. To the mech who found the human avoiding being squashed by pedes on the street, it was a improvised kennel for his organic pet while he visited with another mech. One that the teen didn't catch a glimpse of. Jack had a strange feeling he wasn't suppose to be here, judging on how hastily his mech dropped the teen into the empty Energon cube with a chunk of his weird clay food, held a single digit to his faceplates, then crossed the room to join the other mech. This left Jack, though safe, thoroughly and utterly bored. Until now.

Through the side of the cube, Jack could just make out a blurry blob as it hastily crossed right in front of the lit doorway, the light highlighting its frame for a moment. The shape reminded Jack of Smokescreen, and a wave of homesickness crashed over the teen. He soaked in the feeling for a moment, then shoved the unruly emotion back down. It wouldn't help anything to be depressed. Besides, he'd seen plenty other mechs and femmes with similar frames. It could be anybot. Maybe they were here to rob the place. Hopefully they wouldn't be too interested in the little organic trapped in the Energon cube.

Jack held his breath when the blob softly called out again, barely within a human's hearing range.

" _Jack_?"

Jack's clay-food clunked on the ground. Impossible... Smokescreen!? He was here? How!? Jack wasn't sure how he ended up on Cybertron, much less Cybertron during the Golden Age. His memory of the incident foggy. If he tried hard enough, Jack could remember someone yelling "Run!", followed by the sound of a explosion. And suddenly he was on Cybertron, avoiding getting stomped on by oblivious Cybertronians. The fact that the young Elite Guard trainee was here wasn't a coincidence. It was a rescue. Jack glanced at the door to see if the two chatting mechs heard the voice. Luck was on his side. The conversation was still going, albeit a little louder and more intense than before.

" _Jaaack? Buddy? You there_?"

Jack pounded once on the glass with a single fist, hitting as loud as he dared. The blob froze until it located the sound. Stealth-like, it crossed the room and Smokescreen's beaming faceplates appeared over the edge of the cube.

" _Dude! There you are_!"

The young mech reached in and scooped Jack up easily with one servo.

" _Glad that I found ya! When you didn't answer right away I figured that Optimus got the location wrong. I wouldn't have been surprised. This place is a piece of junk. Have to be really poor to live here._ ", Smokescreen whispered. He gave the boy a quick scan for any injuries. Finding none, he swept the human close the his spark chamber and quickly crept towards the window that he'd used for his entry.

" _Everyone else is okay, you were the only one who got transported when the Groundbridge exploded. Ratchet was able to figure out what went wrong and recreate it. He explained what happened, but it was a whole bunch of sciencey mumble jumble so I blocked him out. Something about reversing the flow of the polarity._ "

.

Smokescreen paused the quiet chatter as he passed by the lit doorway unseen once more. He glanced down at Jack, practically sensing the question burning within the teen. The mech had a good guess of what it was.

" _Arcee couldn't come. They sent me 'cause I technically haven't been sparked yet and they didn't want to risk it anyone meeting their past selves. I think Ratchet might have said something about disrupting the time flow somewhere in his explanation. Bee could have come, but he refused to leave Raf, so I was the one to go. Plus Optimus figured less bots would bug me once they saw that I'm part of the Elite Guard."_

Curiosity sated, Jack settled in Smokescreen's servo. So far, so good. No problems. Smokescreen gave himself a mental pat on the back. When he got to the window however, he cursed and canceled the back patting.

With his two free servos, Smokescreen scaled up the outside wall to the second story and jumped through the window, landing noiselessly with pedes spread wide and one servo planted on the ground. Miko would have called it a 'Spider-man landing' The style alone would made Knockout jealous, but accomplishing it silently only added to the young mech's ego.

But that was with two servos. Having one available along with a fragile passenger made climbing down a bit more of a challenge than he expected. Trapped between Smokescreen's chassis and servo, Jack wiggled to gather his attention, sensing the young mech's hesitance.

" _Problem_?" Jack whispered.

" _Nah. Fine, fine. Everything's good._ "

" _You just said three positives in a row. I'm not convinced._ "

" _No, for real. Just trying to figure out how to get both of us down safely_ ", Smokescreen paused, then " _I have an idea._ _Hang on._ "

Jack didn't struggle when the Elite Guard trainee gently pushed the teen farther up his chassis. He was promptly placed on Smokescreen's shoulder, the gray metal right above the mech's chest plate, in between his shoulder and neck. Jack carefully reached his fingers into the crevice between Smokescreen's body and shoulder, latching onto the metal to the best of his abilities. It was hard. Smokescreen didn't have anything to actually grab onto there. But as long as the mech didn't move suddenly, the human decided he could stay on. Smokescreen took another moment to mentally review his plan before approaching the window.

Unnoticed by either the boy or the young mech, the one of the voices from the other room was cut off by a sharp hiss from the other resident.

Smokescreen slid his right leg out the window first, followed by the that half of the bot. He ducked lower to avoid banging his helm on the top of the window. Jack stumbled around slightly with the motion, but kept a firm handhold. The teen glanced uneasily at the metal ground two Cybertronian stories below; a great deal higher than the human stories. He really hoped Smokescreen knew what he was doing. The blue and yellow mech leaned out a little further as he judged the distance to the ground, wondering if it was safe to jump.

When a deafening high-pitched squeal suddenly blared out behind him, Smokescreen was understandably startled. The young mech squawked as he jumped,- launching Jack out into the open space- servos windmilling for a second, before he lost his balance and tumbled out after the human.

" **No!** " Megatronus snarled as he rushed to the window. Halfway across the room there was a loud crash followed by the roar of an engine and a strange screeching noise. By the time the gladiator actually reached the window the street was empty, the only sign of the mech existence was a trail of smoke and two strange black marks about two mechanometers apart. Megatronus placed a servo on the frame, ready to launch himself out and chase down the strange mech when a pained cry from Orion stopped him in his tracks. He twirled, sword deploying instinctively after vorns of fighting in the arenas.

Instead of being ambushed like Megatronus feared, the red and blue librarian was cradling an old empty Energon cube to his chassis, his faceplates frozen in dismay and electromagnetic field fluxing in distraught. " **Ae'er is gone!** " Orion wailed.

Megatronus paused " **Who?** "

" **Ae'er! The small organic I've been watching for the past deca-cycle! I considered it unwise to leave him at my dwelling for a long period of time, so I brought him to keep an optic on. And now he is gone!** "

Megatronus's temper rose with each word.

" **You fool! You brought something like that here?",** Megatronus snarled, " **I said these meetings could be dangerous, and yet you brought an organic!** " He slammed a fist into the wall, the sword piercing through the metal. Orion flinched, but continued to gently rock the cube; field still tight and withdrawn. Megatronus vented deeply, using the precious kliks to wrestle with his temper and retracted his weapon.

Orion was soft, used to typing speeches and doing research necessary for their goal. The red and blue mech was still stuck in his previous mindset, where the idea of being in danger was only an afterthought. He'd only recently joined the revolution. The librarian was bound to make mistakes, Megatronus told himself. They were lucky that the organic was the only one to suffer the consequences this time.

Megatronus walked over to his comrade and placed what he hoped was a reassuring servo on Orion's shoulder pad, yet said nothing. The silver mech had little experience with comforting non-gladiator types. Normally a good pounding on the back suffice, followed by staying by their side while making sure his own pain was unnoticable. The repetition of that action helped him develop an uncrackable poker-face, one currently in use. Though he appeared stoick and unruffled on the outside, the inner Megatronus was furiously trying to work out what to do about the mech who broke into his residence.

The Energon inside Megatronus boiled at the thought. He was a renowned gladiator! Master of combat, champion of thousands of battles! How did he not notice the mech's presence until the pest almost disappeared? Where did he come from? Where did he go? Who did he work for? What was his reasoning for being there? Why did he take the organic? Did he hear of their plans for the next rally? All these question dug under Megatronus's armour, an annoyance that could be satisfied only one way. A way which vanished along with the meeting-crasher.

The gladiator couldn't track the mech now. Those black marks would only last so long. If the mech was smart, then he'd avoid attracting any attention to himself and drive to a previously chosen location, taking the backways and alleys, before silently disappearing. Basics a trained mech like that was sure to know.

Megatronus was certain the intruder was a mech; an old instinct that never failed him before insisted on such. But there was something that he was missing. It was on the tip of his glossa. Megatronus frowned as his processor brought up the memory file and replayed the moment. The frown mentally transformed into a small smirk when the unknown mech lost his balance and toppled out the window. He'd never seen a mech fall so clumsily, even during all of his years of combat. Seeing nothing obvious, Megatronus rewound the memory file and played it in reduced speed. The plunge was still amusing, even more so in slow motion.

He was entertained enough that he nearly missed a curious golden glint on the mech's shoulder pad that reflected as he fell. He barely caught sight of it, but it immediately held his attention. Something about the color that was off. Gold was not a color that a mech of that coloration should reflect. Megatronus paused the file, then slowly rewound frame by frame until he had a blurred view of what caused the flash. He froze the frame and zoomed on the flash as close as possible. It was barely recognizable, but the sight made Megatronus's tanks freeze.

An Elite Guard insignia.

Frag.

Megatronus's free servo clenched as a wave of rage washed through his systems. The Elite Guard worked for only one. The Council. And the Council only sent them to deal with threats to Cybertron. The revolution had done nothing to deserve such attention. Unless the peaceful rallies counted as a dangerous, which Megatronus had his doubts.

Then a thought passed through his processor. The revolution was dangerous, not to Cybertron, but to the Council. If they got their way, then the Council would lose a lot of their influence, if not all of it. They wouldn't sit and do nothing as more supporters gathered under Megatronus and Orion. But because no laws have been broken, no action could be taken legally. So the fraggers settled for taking care of the problem in a way that was less... proper.

" **Is Cybertron so corrupt that the Council believes they can do something like this?** " Megatronus snarled softly. He glanced at his partner, curious to see if the mech heard him. No, he hadn't. He was still staring at the floor, rocking the Energon cube close to his chassis. But the sight of the empty Energon cube brought up another mystery. Megatronus could not understand why they took Orion's organic pet. They would have known that Orion had grown attached, and that stealing it would be more motivation for the librarian. Was the Council was trying to emotionally unbalance them?

Megatronus's digits dug hard enough into his servo to draw Energon. So the Council wanted to play dirty. He saw no problem with playing along. Off the top of his processor he could think of multiple mechs who would gladly join him in doing some dirty work. Megatronus gave the librarian grieving on his floor a side-glance. It would be best if Orion thought his pet was taken by an average thief. They couldn't have him being distracted by thoughts of revenge. In reality, it actually was good that the flesh-bag was gone. The pest could have been used for bribery later on. Hopefully the Elite Guard killed the organic the first moment possible.

Jack sunk into Smokescreen's seat, hand clutching his chest as his heart began to settle. When Smokescreen startled, Jack had lost his pitiful handhold and sent flying. The teen was positive that he was going to end up as a 'splat' against the Cybertronian street. He'd barely finished giving his farewells when Smokescreen flopped down after him like some sort of derpy avenging angel, transforming into his alt. mode and grabbing the human in unison. Somehow Jack ended up inside Smokescreen, his butt dropping heavily into the driver's seat as the car landed with a shudder.

The moment his wheels touched the ground, Smokescreen hit the gas, rubber screeching against the metal street. A small part of the teen's brain was impressed by the smoke trail left behind, but the other part was screaming at the mech to go faster. The seat belt wrapped around the teen and clicked into place, pressing him into the seat. "Hang on! We're gonna go fast so they don't catch us!" the mech said as he blasted around the corner. Jack made the mistake of checking Smokescreen's speed gauge. He fought down a gulp as the little red needle hovered past one hundred, dipping slightly only to accommodate for turns.

Smokescreen took another corner, sharply jerking to the left, scraping his paint against the wall. Jack heard a loud shriek, and used the rear view mirror to see dingy red mech angrily shaking a servo at the fleeing rookie. It didn't take a genius to realize that they'd nearly hit the other mech, Smokescreen's superior reflexes preventing the two from colliding.

The red mech disappeared as Smokescreen turned right. The corner opened to a wide street, where mechs and femmes stood behind metal counters on the sides, showing off objects from their stalls. Other Cybertronians hurriedly crossed between stalls, bartering for what was being sold. It was some sort of open-air market. But all of the stalls looked run down, some rusting while others had giant holes in the metal. Jack saw one mech that didn't have a stall, just a large table with his merchandise set up on it. This must be part of the poor section of Cybertron, Jack realized.

The crowd scattered when Smokescreen didn't slow down, blasting through the mass with reckless abandonment. Cybertronians panicked and dove to the side, throwing their purchases into the air as the Autobot rookie flew by. Loud screeches followed the trail of destruction left in the car's wake. Jack screamed when Smokescreen barely missed hitting a femme, the mech throwing himself to the right just in time, shouting "SORRY!" as they passed. By the time the teen comprehended they actually hadn't hit her, Smokescreen already left the outdoor market in the dust.

The young mech swerved onto a giant roadway. The rusty hover-car next to them immediately started honking as Smokescreen barely avoided smashing into them. The Autobot trainee ignored the sound, eyeing the signs on the sides of the road "Jack, keep an optic out for a sign that looks like a giant Sharkicon took a bite out of it. I think that is where we need to turn off to get to the Groundbridge."

"Uhhhmmm," Jack hesitated, clueless on what a Sharkicon was, much less what it's bite marks would look like. Guessing it was like a shark from Earth, the young teen spotted a sign with jagged edges on one edge and said "There! Left!"

Immediately Smokescreen turned left, not looking before he turned. Big mistake, as they discovered as they turned. The mech was going too fast to stop, even when he discovered they were heading straight for the edge of the road and the ditch right besides it. Jack howled "Not right away!" as the two dropped off the side of the road, into the trench.

Smokescreen cursed when his tires didn't catch any traction on the slippery metal wall as he braked. A quick glance at the bottom of the ravine revealed a thin drain covering, one that would surely crumbling under his weight, sending him and Jack falling for miles into the depths of Cybertron. "I can't hit that." he muttered to Jack's confusion. The Elite Guard trainee pressed on his brakes harder. Nothing, he was still sliding. Well, if braking wasn't working… Smokescreen hit the gas.

He instantly shot forward, inertia forcing him over the grate. Smokescreen nearly cheered, until his front wheels hit the wall on the other side of the ditch and he went shooting up the wall. Jack screeched his organic lungs out and Smokescreen let out a short 'whoop!' as they went up. A ledge on the other edge of the road caught on Smokescreen's bumper, resulting in a pained grunt from the mech. One that instantly forgotten when the bump launched the duo into the air. The Elite Guard trainee wrapped another seat belt around Jack's head to protect him from the oncoming whiplash. Below, the traffic heading in the opposite direction of what the two wanted panicked and swerved away from the flying mech. Smokescreen landed with a loud 'crunch', jerking several times to try and straighten.

After a couple moments he did level out. The other Cybertronians stayed back, wary of the crazy mech with strange wheels that came flying out of the ditch. If he did that, then Primus knows what he'd do next.

Inside Smokescreen, it was dead silent. The mech released the seat belt holding Jack's head. Then the rookie muttered "Fraggin' ditch! Look at me! My bumper is almost gone, one of my tires is whompy, and my shocks are gonna ache for days! Hatchet is gonna kill me for coming back damaged. When we're rebuilding Cybertron in our own time I'm gonna find that exact ditch and build a building over it."

Jack snorted, which turned into a giggle then full blown laughter as all the emotions caught up with him. Smokescreen joined him after a second, laughing hard enough that the mech started to slow down. Eventually they crawled to halt, splitting their sides as the traffic flowed around the duo. Jack laughed until he couldn't breath, wiping tears from his eyes.

"Hey-hey-hey, you're not crying on me are ya? We managed to get away from the mechs holding you, didn't we?", Smokescreen giggled, managing to throw concern into his tone.

"We did, just I can't believe we just did that! That was crazy! Like something straight out of the movies." Jack chuckled and wiped more tears. Smokescreen started his engine, speeding and settling with the flow of traffic.

"Yep. All that's missing is a couple cop cars on our aft. Makes me glad there was no Enforcers around today." Smokescreen agreed. He peeled off from the main traffic, crossing over the ditch properly, by using nearby bridge, and merged with the traffic heading in the direction he wanted. Then he added "I bet they're gonna be telling stories about that to their grandsparklings."

The teen burst into laughter once again as Smokescreen pulled off again, this time using the off-ramp.

 **Hello! This was created because beginnings, middles, and endings all come easily to me, but connections are much more difficult. I get so many ideas that need to be written, but are difficult to put in an actual story. For me at least. Which is why this is here. Thank you to anyone who read it! Sorry for OOC thoughts or actions. It's hard to keep in character and still follow the story in mind.**

 **Anyway, this little drabble was inspired by** _ **Timeframe**_ **by** _ **Cyber Rouge**_ **. If you haven't read it, I would highly recommend it. Cliche of me to say that, I know, but it's worth the search and read. I was reading the story and wondered how the kids would get back to Earth and their correct time. Inspiration struck, and I pondered over it for a while. Then the chapter with Soundwave came out, and an even better idea sprung forth from my mind. It's only Jack trapped in the past because it was too hard for me to write all three kids in the situation I had in mind.**

 **The whole ditch-diving incident is an actual event. Not to me, but my uncle. I just wrote it as I remembered, with Smokescreen's point of view as my uncle's. Thankfully, when it happened to my uncle it was early morning. He's fun-crazy, because after all that, he goes straight to work. Didn't even realize how broken his car was until after he got off work. The damage done to Smokescreen is actual damage my uncle's car received, except my uncle had to get his car towed. But I figured Smokescreen is tougher than my uncle's car, so he wouldn't be that badly injured.**

 **The name Orion gave Jack is actually Sindarin Elvish. I got an online translator, typed in Small one, and Ae er popped out. Squashed the words together, add an apostrophe, and Tada! Cybertronian name for Jack! The Cybertronian time measurements I acquired from the Transformer Wiki, and goes as followed: Deca-cycle is about three weeks, Kliks are seconds, and Cycles are about twelve hours. And a Mechanometer is about a meter.**

 **I love constructive criticism and gladly accept it. Especially cause this is my first Transformers fic. But no flames, please. I check for mistakes, but I'm human and will miss things. Be patient. But if you like it, then by all means follow, favorite, and comment if you enjoyed it that much. Thanks!**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Mirrors**_

Mirrors are wonderful creations. Reflective coating laid on the back of glass, typically coated in silver or aluminum, tin (II) chloride, a chemical activator, copper, and paint. Once dried they are sold around the world, then hung in specific places in buildings such as bedrooms and bathrooms. Then they are then used to make clothing choices or give make-up advice. Humans love mirrors, and people become fascinated with the mirror in two different ways. These can be called groups. The most common group don't really care about the mirror itself, they care about what they see in the mirror. Everyone falls under this category, for every human has at least once preened in front of a reflective surface. Anyone who claims they haven't looked at their reflection with care about their physical appearance is lying. Animals are included in the this group, though significantly smaller than the amount of people and highly entertaining.

The second group of mirror lovers is much more interesting. They are more limited group, typically found home alone with their cats or in a mental institute. These are the mirror lovers that believe mirrors are portals to other worlds and have become obsessed with the notion. Not just passive belief or curiosity, but addiction. Which includes talking to the mirrors and trying to walk through them. These people spend hundreds of dollars just to cover their houses (or room) with mirrors and wait for the time when they can take a jaunt into another world.

But no matter the group, both can agree on one thing. Mirrors reflect what they see. What they see exactly is debatable, but the thought still stands. There is no hiding from their harsh truthfulness. They show everything, even what we don't want to see.

For Miko Nakadai, the image of Soundwave peeking into her bedroom window while she was in her pajamas was definitely not something she wanted to see in the morning. She'd already slammed off her alarm clock and was halfway across the room to flick on the light switch when she noticed the mechanical Peeping Tom in her closet door mirror.

The girl let out a short yelp and spun away from the full length mirror, ready to go down with a fight. Not that she could do much against one such as Soundwave. With the lights off she forgot about the conveniently dropped math textbook on the ground. This same textbook that one of her feet landed on and sent her sprawling onto the floor. Her feet went straight up in the air before she landed on her tush with a slight gasp.

"Ow.", she moaned in a quiet voice as she rubbed her bottom. It was just her and the pain for the moment. Then reality caught up with her and Miko immediately sprang to her feet- fists up again- and faced the window with the intruder.

An intruder that was now gone. Confused, Miko's fists slightly lowered as she stared at the second story window. Soundwave? Last anyone had seen of the mech was when he became trapped in the Shadow Zone during the 'giant epic battle to end all battles' last month. There's no possible way the Decepticons' Communications Officer could have escaped. Did she just imagine Soundwave peeking at her like some sort of pervert? Were the years of listening to obscure Bulgarian Shriek Metal getting to her head like Ratchet swore?

After a couple minutes with no reappearance from a certain mech, the young Japanese girl's curiosity got the best of her. Cautiously, she crept to her window, slid it open, and stuck out a arm. When a giant hand of doom did not snatch it up right away, she put her head out. Nothing happened. She eyed the dark outside world suspiciously.

Miko let out a huff and slammed the window shut. She was seeing things. The girl spun around, already going over her day in her mind. And definitely was not thinking about certain Decepticon peepers.

Until she looked in the mirror.

This time she almost screamed at the sight of the tall Cybertronian. Thankfully she managed to clamp her jaw shut before the sound could escape. Miko spun back towards the enemy. An empty window greeted her. Beyond confused at this point, Miko glanced back to her mirror and the image of Soundwave. But when she looked back, the glass window only showed the dark sky. After a couple back and forths, Miko threw her arms up into the air.

"Dude! Make up your mind! Are you here or not?"

If possible, the faceless mech in the mirror looked slightly amused at her frustration. Miko puffed out her chest- thoroughly annoyed- and gave the Cybertronian a glare. "Fine. Be that way with your weird mirror invisible-ness. But if you're not gonna do anything, then I'm ignoring you."

The mech made no move as the girl walked across the bedroom. Several times she stopped and stared down the immobile figure's reflection. To Miko's pleasure, when she check on him again after turning on the bedroom lights, Soundwave was gone. She let out a sigh of relief but kept her muscles tense. On edge, she walked over to the mirror. When Soundwave still didn't reappear, she hesitantly opened the door behind it and slid into the closet. He was still gone when she came out, and didn't rematerialize during her entire morning routine as she prepared for school.

Finally, Miko swung her backpack onto her shoulder, still eyeing the mirror warily. It was acting as all mirrors should, by not showing robotic aliens trapped in another dimension. She walked backwards out her room. Halfway out the door, her hand snuck forward and flicked off the light switch. The room was immediately plunged into darkness. At once, the mirror had a familiar frightening figure filling the frame. Miko stiffened as reflection Soundwave's visor slowly turned to face the terrified girl.

Quickly, Miko turned the lights back on, unwilling to face the mech in darkness as before. Any fear of that was crushed when the mech disappeared as soon as the room brightened. Miko's brain took a couple seconds to process the information before a figurative light bulb lit up. She held her breath, then reached for the light switch again.

 _Light off._

Soundwave.

 _Light on._

No Soundwave.

 _Light off._

Soundwave.

The process was repeated several times before Miko was satisfied. She stopped the flicking- continued to eye the unmoving reflection- turned off the lights one last time and slowly shut the bedroom door. The door clicked when it closed, but Miko kept her hand on the knob. She stared at the door handle, mind focused on what she'd just been through. Jack and Raf might know something about it.

"MIKO! Hurry up! You're going to be late for school and you still haven't eaten breakfast yet!"

The cry of a slightly agitated adult halted her hand from reaching her cell phone. Miko gave it a forlorn look, then shouted "Coming!" She'd have to talk to the boys later.

Later turned out to lunch time. Jack was sitting against their tree, balancing a food tray on his legs when Miko and Raf arrived, the younger boy settling down on Jack's left while Miko took his right side. They liked to eat outside when the weather permitted, with a view of the entire parking lot. Jack chose the spot, and always faced the motionless vehicles when sitting. Miko figured Jack was acting as a look-out, watching for trouble.

"So", Miko casually broke the comfortable silence, "Who wants to talk about Soundwave?"

Raf jerked to a halt, spilling the food off his fork. Jack sat up suddenly and started choking on his lunch. Raf pounded on the older boy's back until the coughing died off. When his airway cleared, Jack gave Miko a concerned look and rasped, "What?"

Miko shrugged, nonchalantly sweeping loose morsels into her spoon, "You know. Soundwave. Megatron's third in command. The Con we trapped in the Shadow Zone. Same mech that was creepin on me in a mirror this morning."

There was a pause, then...

"So he watches you too!", Raf bursted, "I was worried I was the only one!"

Jack sighed and leaned back against the tree, "Great. We're all being watched then."

"Wait", Miko set her utensil down, "Soundwave was creeping on both of you, and you guys didn't say anything! I only saw him for the first time this morning and I'm telling you now!"

"Didn't want to bother anyone."

"I thought he was haunting me because I opened the second Groundbridge that trapped him in the Shadow Zone."

Miko gave the two boys an unconvinced stare. "I can't believe you guys!", she huffed and threw her arms into the air, then waved them in the boys faces, "How long have you known?!"

"I first saw him about two weeks ago. I was grabbing something from my mom's room and caught him watching in her dresser mirror. He was literally inside my house. I think he was intangible, cause he going straight through the floor without damaging it. Could only see him from the waist up", Jack shivered at the memory, "Since then I've seen him on and off."

Raf adjusted his glasses, "I have to agree with you on the intangible part Jack. Soundwave has been following me for about a week. The bathroom in my new house has a huge mirror. That's where I first saw him. My nose was runny and I went to grab some toilet paper to use as a tissue. I nearly fell into the bathtub when I spotted his visor poking through the wall."

"Woah", Miko breathed, then annoyance flashed on her face, "So then Mr. Dark-and-Silent-bot was only hanging outside of my window cause he could? Lame…. Or maybe I moved faster than he expected and he didn't have time to actually get into my house before I saw him.", She perked up at the thought, happily accepting the theory.

"Well.. the Bots always did say you were unusually fast for a human", Raf reluctantly conceded. Miko beamed. "That was usually followed by a bunch of swearing.", Raf added.

Jack examined the scenery, easily imagining Soundwave towering over them at the moment, "Think he's watching right now?"

"Positive. With all three of us here, he's definitely going to be", Raf smiled sadly at the older boy, "But with Miko being watched now, we should be seeing less of him individually."

"Our own personal creeper", Miko said, then added, "At least he can't touch us."

The boys nodded their agreement. Any thought of lunch was now abandoned. Miko stuck a piece of grass in her mouth and shuffled over and laid on the ground. A couple moments silently passed before she spoke again, "What's up with the 'only seeing him in dark mirrors' thing though?"

"I was wondering about that", Jack admitted, "It seems so specific."

Raf nodded, "I thought so too. But when I tried to research mirrors and other dimensions, all I could get was paranormal stuff. Those sites talked about using magic or the 'the combined force of the anger of millions of dead souls' to cross dimensions. We've seen stranger things explained by science, so I eliminated that as a possible explanation. But the more I searched, the less reasonable explanations I found. Eventually I stopped looking."

There was a couple seconds of silence. Miko chewed on the blade of grass before speaking, "My mother always said that we could never hide anything from a mirror, even the things we don't want to see. A girl with lots of friends can look into a mirror and see a lonely soul. The most positive boy in school could see someone suffering from depression staring back. Standing in front of a mirror is standing in front of truth."

"Deep.", Jack commented.

"Nah", Miko raised her head and gave him a wry smile, "I'm pretty sure she got it from _Mulan_."

Jack snorted in amusement. Raf's eyebrows furrowed as he absorbed what had been said. "Either way, it's the best explanation we've got despite how dysfunctional. Soundwave is trapped in the Shadow Zone. We were intangible when we were there. It explains how he could get into our houses without destroying them. Do you guys remember how everything was darker there?"

When they nodded Raf continued, "I feel like that's a factor. Maybe there needs to be an absence of light for the Shadow Zone to be seen", the young genius shrugged then let out a sigh and slid down the tree a smidge while rubbing his face, "I really have no idea. All we've got are half-baked theories and ideas that don't make much sense."

And in a quieter voice he added, "Ratchet might have had a better explanation."

Jack scooted closer to the younger boy and slung an arm over his shoulders. He was silent for a moment, then gave the bespectacled boy a small squeeze. They were all missing the Bots. "If you can't think of anything, then I doubt Ratchet could."

"Yeah!", Miko sat up, "Besides, old Doc bot is too stiff. He'd only believed us after a butt load of scans and years of trying to convince him that we're not crazy."

Raf laughed. Jack gave Miko a grateful smile and the girl grinned back. They spent until the school bell rang discussing their thoughts and other theories. When it finally did go off, all three let out a disappointed groan.

The kids shuffled around to grab their lunch trays and started back towards to building. They'd only gotten halfway when Miko paused. She snatched her almost empty milk carton off her tray and held it out towards them expectantly.

"A toast! To our new stalker!", she said cheerfully, lifting the carton to the sky before downing the rest of the milk. Jack and Raf shared a long suffering look, then grabbed their individual cartons. The two boys bumped the containers against one another before draining them as well. Then the group continued their trek to school. The thought that Soundwave was watching them still made their stomachs roll, but it wasn't as bad now knowing that the others were going through the same thing.

 **Hello! How did you guys like this drabble? It was interesting to write, that's for sure. I was thinking about what Soundwave could have been doing while stuck in the Shadow Zone when I realized that if it were me, I'd watch the people who sent me there. Then I thought it would be creepy to first see something like this the dark. Immediately my mind came up with several scenarios, and the thought of only seeing Soundwave in dark mirrors stuck. More thoughts kept coming, and the plot bunnies wouldn't leave until I wrote them down.**

 **Sorry for any confusion in the whole explaining-the-travel-mirror thing. I thought I could find some legit theory of mirrors being portals to other worlds, but I couldn't find what I was looking for. Not smart enough to come up with an actual sciencey thing either. And I knew Raf would be the type to look into this stuff, so I couldn't have nothing. That is why an answer is vague. If you couldn't tell, Jack, Miko, and Raf have all been relocated and going back to school. Don't know where it is. Just a random high school somewhere in America.**

 **Anyway, thanks for reading and giving this story a chance! Comment, follow, and favor on your own agency. Thanks!**


	3. Chapter 3

_**It Took Webbing**_

' **Hi!'- Thoughts "Hi!"- Speech**

Screaming dragged Jackson Darby out of bed this morning. He was no stranger to waking up to screams. The sergeant over his troop in Boot Camp seemed to take particular pleasure in waking them up in such a fashion. The bunker would be practically dead- everyone deep asleep- until the sergeant charged in, bellowing a the top his his large lungs. After the first couple seconds of panic were over, bodies would reluctantly force themselves up and into formation, only to get yelled at some more. But the shouts that yanked Jack into the land of the living were different. There was edge to them that wasn't unfamiliar.

Panic. Panic with a lot of fear. Normal for a battlefield, but in a peaceful neighborhood in the middle of Wyoming, screams of fear could not be called common. It was with this thought in mind that Jack rolled out of bed and staggered over to his bedroom window. He groggily twisted opened the blinds, holding out a hand to block some of the sunlight. After a moment, his eyes adjusted and got a clear view of the outside world. He gasped, dropping both hands to grip the window sill. He could almost feel the morning fatigue burn away from the adrenaline as he took in the situation that greeted him.

Everyone was in a panic. The neighbor from across the street, Carl Jimonge, was desperately trying to break into his own car. Someone close was screaming loudly. One of the young girls from next door- Lily, he remembered, her family brought him cookies when he first moved in- had sunk to the ground in the middle of the driveway, blank eyes taking nothing in as she slightly rocked in place. A purse was on the ground next to her, perhaps on her way to something when she realized what the outside world looked like. Jack briefly recalled her mother mentioning that she had an intense phobia spiders and anything related to them.

'And this definitely is spider-related' Jack thought sourly 'One spider in particular'

It had to be. Nothing else could thoroughly cover an entire neighborhood in webs during the night. Each object outside was wrapped enough that it looked like a cocoons littered the neighborhood. Not even children toys escaped. Everything was drowning in the unnatural stuff. Really strong stuff, as Carl could attest to as he attacked the sticky substance trapping his car with a absurdly large pair of pliers. A car was useless though. Jack could see a tall web barrier rising above the houses. The entire neighborhood was probably surrounded.

Just to be sure he wasn't having a nightmare, Jack blinked, rubbed his eyes, blinked a couple more times, then dropped his head into his hands and let out a low groan. "Of course", he muttered, "Something _had_ to happen during my release period. How did she even find me? No good, slaggin', scrap-filled, glitched-in-the-processor-"

He had many more choice words, but was interrupted before any could be said. It was a heavy droning sound, followed by several earth-shaking thump, accompanied by shrill shrieking and loud wails of terror. Jack instinctively ducked down as an beetle Insecticon landed in front of the window. He peeked over the bottom of the window and eyed it warily, watching the Con as it switched to bot mode. He counted two from what he could see.

A street over an Insecticon gave one of it's piercing shrieks and- based off the loud wooden crunch followed by loud screams- stumbled into a house. Jack grimaced as Carl gave up freeing his vehicle in favor of running into his home at the sight of the giant transforming robots. The area was clear of human life within seconds.

'Fowler is going to have a hayday trying to cover this. Hope he hasn't run out of believable excuses'

The Insecticon in front of his house moaned and started to slowly lumber away. Jack frowned as he watched the Con sluggishly stagger with a destination in mind. There was something off about the Insecticon. They didn't move like they should. Insecticons had always been clumsy, but never like this. This Con shuffled around like it didn't have full control of its limbs, about to fall over any second. Complete opposite of any Insecticon he'd seen before today.

Jack wasn't left with much time to ponder over the reason as he finally spotted the Insecticon's objective.

Lily, still out on the driveway while the Con determinedly teetered it's way towards her. He could see her family screaming at the girl from the inside of their house. Jack let out a low swear and bursted out his bedroom. He was out of his house in seconds, trying to forget the fact that he'd just run outside without shoes and in his pajamas.

He caught up to the Insecticon quickly. The Con was moving at a worryingly slow speed. The robot bug stiffened as it sensed his movement and slowly swung to face him. By the time it actually turned all the way around Jack had zoomed past and dragged a unresponsive Lily up her driveway. The house's door opened invitingly, and Lily's mom poked her head out. She waved them over frantically, casting nervous glances at the towering robot. The woman ducked when the Insecticon let out a thundering roar and fixed it's glare onto the two humans.

Jake could feel the glare burning into his back even as he shoved Lily up the cement steps. The sensation brought back uncomfortable memories that made his skin crawl. The Con growled and took a sluggish stride forward, moving faster than it had moments earlier. Crap. Jack thrusted Lily inside into anxious hands and stepped off the front porch, ignoring the voices offering shelter. Voices that became panicky as he scooted farther away. On the next street, the other Insecticon screeched and shoved itself between two buildings.

'If I did hide in your house, then the Insecticon would demolish it trying to get to me. Can't risk lives.', Jack mentally apologized as he made a break for his own home. He was positive Fowler had said something about a reinforced bunker in the basement when Jack was first given the house.

 _Crunch_!

Nevermind. Jack swerved, avoiding the wreckage that had been his residence. The Insecticon who'd destroyed it bellowed triumphantly and joined its brethren in chasing the human. Jack had a feeling that it was the same Con who'd stumbled into the other house earlier.

Jack scurried down the road, avoiding servos sweeping at his head from a Insecticon that appeared from behind a house. He tore down the webbing-covered cement lane, heading to the small park at the end of the street. He wasn't sure what he could do against three Insecticons, but by Primus he was not going down without a fight. 'Especially if they're working for her', he mentally tacked on. The thought sent a shiver down his spine.

When the kiddie park was in sight Jack went over his options even as he spun to avoid another servo. He could use the playground equipment to his advantage. An Insecticon could have a hard time trying to reach him from under the slide. It might provide cover for a moment, especially with all the webs draped over it. The balance beam looked tall enough to trip one of the Cons. Maybe he'd get lucky and it would stab itself when it landed. If he was lucky. Despair rose inside him.

'That's it', he mourned, 'I'm dead. Hope they break the news to Mom gently.'

Suddenly there was a Groundbridge, opening only feet in front of him. The Insecticons halted in surprise at the sight of the military man didn't have it so easy. He wouldn't be able to get out of the way of arriving troops. With no time to think, Jack reacted instinctively as the first Cybertronian stepped out of the swirling portal. In the cloudy adrenaline rush, some part of his brain took in the towering robot and thought 'obstacle course'

So that's how Jack's body treated it.

A small hop made the Cybertronian's knee an excellent foothold to help Jack scramble up the rest of the orange bot. The robot froze instantly, too stunned to react even as Jack climbed onto his chest. The human used this pause to go up and over the bot's head and launch himself from Orange's back. Jack landed on the face of a red Cybertronian, who'd not expected to be attacked by a flying human and was sorely unprepared for the short assault. The red bot stumbled and lost his balance, flailing spectacularly as he fell backwards.

Something was already poking out the bridge, slightly higher than Red's head. Instantly Jack jumped, using the falling motion of the mech to throw himself higher. He reached the peak of his jump as a giant black dinosaur burst out of the Groundbridge and rushed right under him. Jack landed in a roll halfway down the dino's back. A high pitched shriek erupted from underneath him. The man instinctively raced forward, towards the tail of the robotic behemoth. The girlish shrill continued and was accompanied by a sudden jerking action as the dinosaur bucked. This included the tail Jack was on, hurling the military man upside-down in the direction of the glowing portal.

Jack intuitively flipped himself right side up in time to land on another Cybertronian. This one didn't react until Jack had already bounded off the white and blue head in one motion, only letting out a confused "Huh?" as the bot jolted to a stop.

The next bot that walked out the the Groundbridge was yellow and black. Jack aimed for the door wings, planning on the grabbing one of the doors as a brake to slow down and then drop to the ground, when giant hands wrapped around his stomach.

Air bursted from his lungs as he was jerked to a halt and Jack let out a pain-filled gasp. He went limp in the yellow and black Cybertronian's grasp, a part of his brain reminded him to take deep breaths as he started to recover the lost oxygen.

Jack's mind cleared the cloudy haze and he stared at the sky. All the action only lasted ten seconds at the most, but it felt like longer. His legs burned, fingers screamed in protest, and his heart felt ready to burst out of his chest, like he'd run a hundred miles. Despite this, the man's mind was racing. His neighborhood was covered in spiderwebs, had at least three Insecticon pus one spider-con after his head, he'd used four other bots like a jungle-gym, and was captured by a fifth Cybertronian, _while still in his pajamas_. Jack's face burned at the thought.

"Jack?"

Caught off guard, Jack focused on his eyes on the yellow bot's face. Silver faceplates, surrounded by the cheery yellow on the helm, brown eyebrow-like things, and _blue_ optics. Blue optics. Blue optics meant Autobot. Autobot meant he was safe. Even if he didn't know the Bot, an Autobot wouldn't let Arachnid or any Insecticons take him.

But Jack couldn't look away. Mostly because the Autobot hadn't looked away either, even when his companions came stumbling over and started complaining. It was like the human and Cybertronian were stuck in an eternal staring contest. Jack didn't recognize the Bot- though it certainly knew him- but the voice was immensely familiar. He cast his mind back, going over memories of any Autobots- the Cons wouldn't bother remembering the Autobots' pets- that could have known him.

It took a couple seconds for everything to click into place. But when it did, Jack's jaw dropped. He blinked and managed to stutter out part of the Bot's name.

"Bee?"

The crowd around them instantly shifted uncertainly. Then the blue and white bot spoke, surprising Jack with her decidedly female voice, "Lieutenant, you know this human?"

"Yeah!" , the red Autobot shoved himself in front of her, "I thought we weren't suppose to show ourselves to any other humans!"

Lieutenant? Jack barely had time to ponder over that before the massive Dinosaur pounded over, transformed into bot mode, and examined Jack with one optic. He looked the human up and down, 'hmm'-ing the entire time. Then the Dinobot broke into a giant grin and reached excitedly for the human in Bee's grasp, like an hyperactive child about to be handed a puppy.

"Oo! Oo! Does this mean we have to bring him back with us? Can I watch him? I'll take good care of him! I promise! Let me watch him! Please? Please? Please? Pleeease!"

Bumblebee jerked Jack away from the greedy servos as the red mech snorted, "Yes. Cause we all know how careful Dinobots are."

Jack's eyes widened as he inspected the black and green robot. "Bulkhead was right. Dinobots are completely different.", he caught himself muttering under his breath. All optics turned on him, and he cursed Cybertronian enhanced hearing.

"Bulkhead?", the femme repeated, "The ex-Wrecker Bulkhead. The War-Hero? The same Bulkhead one who snuck onto and grounded the Decepticon warship by himself? The Autobot that-"

"Yes. That Bulkhead", Bee interrupted. He took a deep breath then said "Team, this is Jackson Darby. He was a close friend of ours when Team Prime was on Earth."

Jack gave a small wave, "Just call me Jack."

The only one who returned the motion was the Dinobot, the others too busy in examining the human to wave back.

"Jack. This is my team. Grimlock, Strongarm, Sideswipe, and Drift, along with his two minicons Jetstorm and Slipstream.", Bee pointed to each bot as he named them. Jack was only mildly surprised to watch two smaller Bots pop off the arms of the Autobot named Drift. One of the minicons waved excitedly at him until the other minicon knocked him in the head.

"We actually have another minicon, but we had to leave Fix-it back at base", Bumblebee added. Then he grinned at Jack, "So how are you doing? It's been a while."

"You have a base? That means you've been here for a good amount of time and never once visited", Jack folded his arms and sent a glare at the yellow mech, "I can't believe it took my entire neighborhood to be covered in webbing for a visit."

Bumblebee shrugged sheepishly, "Sorry about that, been a little busy."

"Wait, wait", Strongarm stepped forward, "How exactly do you know Jack? According to records, Team Prime only had contact with the native government. He doesn't look like he could be older than twenty-five, so he would have been around sixteen when you were on Earth last. Earthen military doesn't allow adolescents into their ranks"

"I think I remember reading something like that.", Sideswipe mention.

"Yeah", the femme sniped, "The War was the only time you paid attention during school."

The two bots shared scowls. Jack gave the yellow bot a face that screamed, 'Are they always like this?'. Bumblebee nodded and Jack sighed.

"We lied.", Bee answered. The two stop scowling to stare at their leader in horror.

"What!"

Bumblebee shrugged off the explosive reaction, "It was on Optimus's orders. He didn't want any ex-Cons with revenge plans going after the kids."

"Interesting I'm sure", Drift cut in, speaking for the first time, "But it does not do any good to forget the reason why we are here."

"Oh yeah! We're here to punch someone!", Grimlock pounded his own palm in anticipation.

"And I know who exactly whose faceplates you're going to bash in.", Jack said. The friendly banter had brought back a sense of familiarity, something that he could work with. He could feel himself relaxing as he adjusted to the new bots.

"Who?", Bee asked.

"Look around", Jack gestured to their surroundings, "Should be obvious."

The Autobots finally removed their optics off the human and took in the scene. Drift and Bumblebee stiffened at the sight of the web, but the other three bots seemed clueless, if not a little grossed out.

"Eeew. What is this?", Stongarm lifted a pede to look at the sticky white substance stuck to it.

"Webbing", Drift's servos strayed to the hilts of his swords, "Made by only one type of Con. And if it is indeed the one Decepticon I'm thinking of, then we are in a more dire situation than I previously thought."

"It's her.", Bee confirmed with a confident nod of his helm.

"How certain are you of that?"

"Well, Jack is here. So a hundred percent."

Drift blinked in surprise while the other three visibly started. Optics that weren't on the human now fixed themselves on him.

"What's that suppose to mean?", Sideswipe asked.

Bumblebee started to explain, but was interrupted by Jack before he could say anything.

"Can I give them the short version, Bee? The Insecticons chasing me earlier have disappeared and it's making me nervous."

"Insecticons?", Bee blinked.

Then there was a new voice, smooth as honey as it spoke behind the yellow bot, "No need to worry Jack. I brought the Insecticons back."

Bumblebee spun around, keeping himself between the voice and Jack even as he moved. The other copied him, Drift drawing both swords as he did so. Bee's optics narrowed when he caught sight of the owner of the voice, a femme spider-con surrounded by three Insecticons. He gave a curt acknowledgment.

"Arachnid."

Strongarm gasped, followed quickly by Sideswipe and Grimlock. Then the Dinobot's face collapsed into confusion, "Wait. Why are we gasping?"

"Look at that, you brought some friends", Arachnid ignored Bumblebee, continuing to refer to Jack. She tapped a single digit against her faceplate twice contemplatively, "I don't recognize any of them. You did call the yellow one 'Bee' though. But he can't be Arcee's little bug friend. His vocalizer was crushed beyond repair vorns ago."

"My vocalizer is doing fine, thank you very much", Bee retorted. The spider-con was silent for a moment, then gave a short dry laugh.

"Interesting"

Arachnid let out a couple more menacing chuckles then held out an open servo, "I'll be taking Jack now. It's been a long time since we last met and he's been _dying_ to see me again."

 **Hello! How's this drabble for ya? I liked it. The cliffhanger part is on purpose. If the drabble is liked enough then I could write a second part for anyone interested. I don't remembered how this was inspired, but I'm pretty sure it came from either a dream or a daydream. Eh. Either way it was dream-inspired. Sorry if Arachnid or anyone was OOC. Bound to happen, found her hard to write. Wasn't quite sure on how to write my portrayal of her. Anyway, Thanks for reading!**


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